Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who explored many mediums of art, such as painting, sculpting, photography, printmaking, and more. Born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1925, he decided to follow his parents’ advice to go to college. He went to Black Mountain College with his later wife Susan Weil to study art. Though not much is going on in the collection White Paintings, the shadows of the viewer or changes in light sources appear on them sporadically. Robert also created the series Night Blooming (1951) at Black Mountain College. Created with oil, asphalt, and gravel on canvas, he developed these works by pressing pebbles and gravel into black pigment. 

A famous style of art that Robert invented was Combines, which are works that blend painting and sculpture elements within a 3d object. One of his first “combines” was Bed, which includes everyday house items mashed together to take the appearance of a smothered bed set. Another one of his Combines is Monogram which he crafted with trinkets found around New York City. He further understood and developed his style of combining sculpture and painting elements. The main subject of the piece is a stuffed angora goat encircled with a tire and hints of Abstract Expressionism. Collection (1955) steps into a new way of perceiving and experimenting with color. Canyon is denoted as one of Ronald’s last Combine pieces in his career. An odd arrangement of objects, it includes pieces of wood, a pillow, a mirror, and a stuffed bald eagle.

 

Skyway ignites Ronald’s shift from 3D sculptures to the meshing of many flat objects once he discovered the silkscreen technique. Rauschenberg wanted to communicate the fast pace of American culture, particularly as represented on television and in magazines. Sky Garden helped showcase Robert’s fascination for space flight and the collaborations between man and technology. Continuing with screenprints, Rauschenberg created this collage summarizing the upheaval of the 1960s decade in Signs. One of his later series in his career, Scenario was made by transferring digital color images onto two poly laminate panels.

Though diagnosed late into his career, Robert was discovered to have dyslexia, which actually aided his success in the art world. Being able to effectively communicate his ideas through visual renditions, ultimately led to his unique style of artwork and an inspiration for others.

So what is dyslexia? Dyslexia is a learning disability that slows the pace of reading and increases the mistakes made. It hinders language abilities, but dyslexia has no effect on their intellectual capabilities. Reading comprehension, spelling, writing, and math are some skills that are difficult to learn for someone who has dyslexia. The main sign of dyslexia is trouble decoding words, phonemic awareness, and matching letters to sounds, as well as changes in emotions and behavior. When looking at the brain of dyslexics, they have a different distribution of metabolic activation than those without language difficulties. There is a failure of the left rear hemisphere brain systems to function properly during reading. The causes of dyslexia are unknown to researchers, but it is known that genes and brain differences are contributing factors. 

Now back to Robert, though he faced challenges with dyslexia in college, it enabled him to become one of the most influential artists. He has works in the MoMA, won the International Grand Prize in Painting in 1964, and has his own retrospective at the Whitney in 1990

Unfortunately, Robert died from heart failure in 2008 in Florida. Well-known for his Combines and new style of mixed media, he has revolutionized the world of art and is an inspiration to all types of people, especially those who have dyslexia. His condition allowed for an investigation into the workings of his brain and led to a new perspective on culture.

Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yZS25peq9YoLcyW4oMzHDyeZB4w3fk59nkR0uCSmMZA/edit#slide=id.g1dc36160b7e_1_58

References:

• https://www.moma.org/artists/4823
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/rauschenberg-robert/
• https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/robert-rauschenberg
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rauschenberg
• https://www.ldonline.org/your-stories/personal-stories/robert-rauschenberg#:~:text=Rauschenberg%20has%20dyslexia%2C%20a%20reading,put%20words%20into%20his%20artwork.
• https://www.understood.org/en/articles/what-is-dyslexia 
• https://www.readingrockets.org/article/dyslexia-and-brain-what-does-current-research-tell-us#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20failure%20of,frontal%20areas%20of%20the%20brain.
• https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/72.26/
• https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/art/galleries/series/scenario-2002-06